


William's Neighbors

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 01:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14125590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: William calls Jim just as Jim is leaving for work, wanting to show him something.





	William's Neighbors

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'red ice'

William's Neighbors

by Bluewolf

The phone rang just after 7:30, just as Jim was taking his coat from the hook.

"Ellison."

/Jimmy, it's your Dad. I'm... Would you come over here now, there's something I'd like you to look at./

"Dad, you caught me just before I left for work - "

/Please. This could be important. I'll call the PD and let them know you'll be a little late./

Now that was strange!

"Okay, Dad, I'll come over."

/Thanks./

Blair glanced at Jim as he, too, crossed to the coat rack. "Problem?" he asked.

"Dad seemed to think so." He pulled on his coat. "I don't know if you need to come - "

"Jim, I'm your partner. Of course I'm coming. But I tell you what - I'll take my own car. That way, if it's something personal, I don't need to hang about, I can head straight in to the PD. Finish the report on the Simpson case."

Jim nodded. It was a good compromise.

***

William was watching for Jim; he left the house as the truck pulled up at the gate, the car only a second behind, and smiled a welcome.  "Hello, Jimmy - you too, Blair."

"What's the problem, Dad?"

"You know I started putting food out for the birds this year." Jim's eyebrows lifted - it wasn't something he would have expected his father to do. "Well, this morning when I went out... Come and see. Yes, you too, Blair - you're Jimmy's partner, after all."

He led the way to the back of the house, and indicated the house next door. "They've had a leak from their master bathroom for a few weeks, but haven't done anything about it - maybe they're not even aware of it. I know, I could have mentioned it to them, but they're an odd-natured couple who don't appreciate any kind of contact. 'We don't know you and we don't want to know you' seems to be their motto. But that... " He indicated an icicle hanging below a frosted-glass window. It was a bright red color. On the ground below it, a trickle of more red ice led to a drain.

The fence between the two houses wasn't high. It took Jim only a couple of seconds to vault over it. He knelt and sniffed at the ground.

Blair scrambled over the fence, and caught Jim's shoulder. "Jim! Not a good idea. Forget trying to smell anything in a bit of solid ice. Come on, Jim, think."

Jim shook his head, pulling himself out of the incipient zone.

"You've got some evidence bags in your pocket, right?" Blair asked.

"Yes... "

"And latex gloves. So get some of the ice into an evidence bag, then we'll go into your Dad's house and melt it. You'll be able to smell what's causing the red coloration then, no bother."

Jim looked at him. "What would I do without you, Chief?"

Blair chuckled. "Come on, let's get the sample."

It only took a few seconds for the ice to melt, and Jim nodded. "It's blood," he said. "Come on, Chief. Dad, you stay in here out of the way."

"Be careful, Jimmy."

With Blair at his heels, Jim headed for the front door of the house. He rang the bell - there was no answer. He tried the door, and it opened.

"Hello?" he called. There was no answer. He went in, Blair a step or two behind him.

Guessing that the layout of this house was the same as his father's, Jim headed up the stairs. He knocked once on the door of what he thought was the master bedroom. There was no answer, not that he had expected one. He went in and crossed to the bathroom.

"Ssss!"

There were two bodies in the bath, lying in a pool of red water. Jim bent over the two; the man lying in the bath had been stabbed several times. The woman lying on top of him had her wrists slit. A knife lay in the water beside her right hand.

"Call it in, Chief. Looks like a murder-suicide. Forensics needs to check it out before the bodies are moved."

Blair was already pulling out his cell phone.

***

While they waited for Forensics, Blair went to tell William what they had found while Jim began a quick check of the house; then Blair rejoined Jim, who had already found a note in the living room.

'I discovered today that my husband has been unfaithful. I cannot forgive that. At the same time, I cannot bear the thought of life without him. And so I plan to kill him, and then myself. Pearl Leyton.'

Jim looked up as Blair entered. "I was right - murder-suicide."

Blair looked at the note. "I feel sorry for her," he said softly.

"I wonder if his girl friend even knew he was married," Jim said.

"Possibly not," Blair said. He looked at the note again and shook his head. "Some people should never marry."

"Ain't that the truth," Jim muttered.

Blair looked at him, and wondered - was that the voice of experience? Why had Jim's marriage failed? Had Carolyn been unfaithful?

It wasn't something he could ever ask. And then, hearing sounds at the front door, Blair went to show Serena and her assistant where the bodies were.

 


End file.
